Real Wedding // Emmaly & Brent’s Fig Tree & Byron Bay Surf Club Wedding

Emmaly & Brent celebrated their magical day across two beautiful venues, Fig Tree and Byron Bay Surf Club. Inspired by a whimsical feel yet coastal style, Emmaly & Brent tied the knot under the fig tree, followed by cocktails by the pool and the dreamiest seaside reception. In Emmaly’s words, “the table style was very ‘me’”, featuring a palette of blush, white and neutral tones with stunning fresh and dried floral arrangements by Bower Botanicals. Read on to hear more about their perfect day.

Tell us about your story, how did you meet and where did the proposal happen?
We knew each other for a little while through friends however officially started a conversation down at the beach one day in our hometown, Cronulla. It wasn’t one of those romantic stories where we fell in love straight away! It certainly took time, and I realised that love is something that gets stronger as two people first become best friends. Byron was a place we went to frequently for holidays and it soon became our favourite place in the world. In 2020, Brent proposed to me on Wategos Beach; again, not a romantic story at all haha. We had a dinner booking at Raes and amongst all his nerves he was running out of time before we had to head up to dinner. With about five minutes to go, he distracted me by asking me about a house up on the hill. As I naively stared at the house, he whipped out the ring and said “What do ya reckon?”. It was honestly perfect, and we laughed and cried, and of course, I said yes. He is my best friend and the proposal was everything I imagined and more.

What were the reasons for choosing Fig Tree as the venue for your special day? 
We were certain about our wedding being in Byron Bay. We wanted all of our friends & family to make a holiday out of our wedding and we wanted to make it a weekend of events with everyone we love. We were actually set to head up to Byron to visit a few venues in March last year, however, a global pandemic that is Covid quickly stopped that. Thank goodness for social media because we had to choose our venue without seeing it first! Fig Tree always looked so beautiful in the pictures. I loved that it had a garden hinterland style feel, as well as a modern coastal feel with the poolside cocktails. It also reminded me of a whimsical fairy tale.

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What style were you striving for with your table settings, florals and reception? Was there a certain look or vibe that you wanted to create? 
We decided to go with two venues and separate our ceremony and cocktail hour at Fig Tree and our reception at Byron Bay Surf Club. I was worried the style would be too contrasting between the two venues, so I wanted to bring the coastal yet whimsical feel to the table styling, florals and furniture at Byron Bay Surf Club to tie it all together. The table style was very ‘me’ — it was a white toned coastal vibe with shells, crystals, linen, and an arrangement of fresh and dried florals in neutral soft tones. Fairy lights were also a must on my list, we covered the inside roof and outside deck in fairy lights. This really gave a magical feel to our wedding. 

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Were there any vendors that you particularly loved working with and why?
Everyone was seriously amazing and so helpful throughout the whole process, we were so happy with all of our vendors. Alex Ouston and Luciana Rose were so amazing with hair and makeup, they were a really relaxed vibe on the morning of and pulled off the exact look I wanted. Bradley Stone was our acoustic guitarist and he is just so amazing to listen to. He learnt two new songs of our choice so quickly and was more than happy to do so, even better he turned into our DJ later on in the night. Our celebrant Jess from Forever Yours Weddings was also such a calm vibe and exactly the type of personality we needed with us on the day. The ceremony can be so nerve-wracking and Jess made us both feel so comfortable on the day. Our videographer Tom Lotter from Marksman Media flew up from Sydney for us and we are so glad he did. Tom is super talented behind the lens and he is such a cool vibe. He even hung with Brent and his groomsmen early the morning of the wedding and got footage of them surfing which was certainly out of his time. We cannot wait to see our final video!

A huge stand out for us was definitely our amazing photographer Daniel Chafer. He very quickly became like a friend to us, he is so personable and extremely talented at what he does. Many people can take a good photo, but it takes someone with a very energetic nature and positive vibe to be able to direct two people who have never been in front of the camera like that before. I was dreading the hours of photos initially, but Dan made it so fun and we actually enjoyed every minute of it. 

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What were your favourite parts of the wedding planning process with Byron Bay Weddings?
Definitely setting up a Pinterest board and collaborating ideas with our wonderful planner, Sihanie. If we are being honest, wedding planning was made much more stressful due to Covid, however, the team at Byron Bay Weddings kept us in the loop and also assured us that it would all work out. It made us feel much better having their support along the way. 

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Tell us what were the most important aspects of your wedding day and which moments really stood out to you?
The biggest moment is definitely walking down the aisle with my Dad. There is something so surreal about the whole thing but at the time you just live completely in the moment and it is the best moment of your entire life. Another important aspect for me was the getting ready process with my bridesmaids — I wanted it to be super chilled and it was exactly that. The Dairy was such a beautiful place to wake up to and get ready at, spending the morning on the other side of the fig tree knowing I was about to marry my best friend under that exact tree just felt so amazing. We played acoustic music all morning and just had the best time! Ah, there are so many stand out moments I could go on forever but seeing all our guests chatting and standing around the pool having cocktails was another highlight, just seeing all your loved ones in one place feeling relaxed and happy is such a good feeling for me. Last but not least, dancing on the deck under the fairy lights and feeling the ocean breeze at the Byron Bay Surf Club was exactly what I had pictured and it felt so right, I will never forget it. 

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What would be your biggest advice to other couples currently planning their wedding?
The cost of things and our budget were definitely one of the biggest stressors we had throughout the whole process, it can be quite overwhelming. My brother in law gave us some really good advice not to let the cost take away from what you truly want on your wedding day (obviously within reason) but you never ever get to have all your loved ones in one place just to celebrate your own love with each other again. It is one of those once in a lifetime experiences that you will never regret. When you look back on your wedding day, you won’t once think about the cost again, but instead, you will have memories that will last a lifetime and beyond. 

Emmaly & Brent xo

Suppliers
Venue: Fig Tree & Byron Bay Surf Club // Hair: Luciana Rose // Makeup: Alex Ouston Beauty // Celebrant: Forever Yours Wedding // Photographer: Daniel Chafer Photography // Videographer: Marksman Media // Florals: Bower Botanicals // Musician: Bradley Stone // Cake: Eat Cake Byron Bay // Transport: Byron Bay Double Deckers // Catering: Fig Tree Catering // Lighting:  Byron Audio // Furniture & Styling: The Wedding Shed // Planning & Coordination: Byron Bay Weddings